It Was An Accident
by Prydwen Magic
Summary: Merlin takes the day off sick, Arthur has a bit of an accident, and Gwen offers to help him. Pre-series 2.
1. Chapter 1

"Oops"

Arthur glanced around the kitchen, which was now filled with shards of broken glass and pottery. This was all Merlin's fault. The fool had come down with a fever, and was therefore unable to attend work. Gaius had assured him it was nothing serious, but his manservant still had to spend a few days in bed to be sure.

All this was fine, if a slight inconvenience. Despite Merlin's constant arguments otherwise, Arthur was the future king and could manage to look after himself, most of the time. All the servants who had been assigned to do Merlin's jobs had been useless, even worse than Merlin himself. Eventually he had thrown the last one out of his chambers, resigning himself to an evening alone, taking care of himself. This went fine, and Arthur was proud of himself, whatever did Merlin make such as fuss about?

But he forgot to get his snack from the kitchen, Merlin had begun leaving the Prince a few bits of fruit or bread in the evenings, because Arthur often woke during the night hungry, and Merlin didn't appreciate being sent to the kitchens at 3am.

So when Arthur had woken earlier that evening, realising he had nothing to eat, he had walked down to the kitchens, now devoid of servants, in such of a light snack. Then he decided to take something more, a few pieces of meat and cheese ready prepared for tomorrow morning's breakfast. He had opened the cupboard door sleepily, and reached inside for a plate, eyes struggling to stay open in his weary state.

Suddenly a loud crash shook him out of his half slumber, and he looked down to see a sea of razor sharp glass splinters, and large daggers of broken pottery. To add to the mess, as he had jumped away from noise he had somehow managed to knock a pile of meat, cheese, fruit and bread onto the floor, where the fruit had splattered juice all over the kitchen, and finally to complete the look, a jug of wine had descended all over Arthur, staining his hastily thrown on white tunic.

"Oops."

How was he going to sort all this out? He couldn't clear all this up on his own, he could barely even move. Then it occurred to him, it was all Merlin's fault, therefore he should help clear up the mess. Surely he couldn't be that ill? Mind made up, Arthur cautiously walked across the kitchens in a sort of edgy dance. He reached the door and increased his pace, hurrying towards the Physicians chambers. He had to slow down once again upon entering Gaius' quarters, not wanting to wake the elderly man. He made straight for Merlin's room, and was surprised upon entering to see Morgana's maid, Guinevere, sat at Merlin's side, pressing a damp cloth to the mans forehead. It brought memories flooding back.

"Guinevere," he said, a smile already forming on his lips.

"Sire, what are you…" she stopped as she took in his appearance. It was only then that he realised what a state he must look – hair like a birds nest, bags under his eyes, shirt stained with wine, and he only noted now – barefooted. He felt a blush race into his cheeks. Hang on, why was he blushing? This was only Guinevere, a maid servant, why should he care what he looked like to her? Though she was rather beautiful… He had realised this latest fact when they were fighting in Ealdor, along with many other realisations about this surprising maid.

"Sire?" Guinevere was stood in front of him now, breaking him out of his reverie, "Are you feeling alright?" She was worried about him, he grinned goofily, not entirely sure why this pleased him, but it did. When he failed to answer she hesitantly raised a hand to his forehead, the touch sent a tingle through his skin and he realised that she was waiting for a reply.

"I'm fine thank you Guinevere," He smiled gently at her, trying to be nonchalant.

"Can I ask what happened?" She asked, indicating his battered appearance.

"I, um, had an accident in the kitchens. I was hoping Merlin might be able to help me clear up."

She raised an eyebrow "At well past midnight?"

"I was hungry!" He defended himself, and she tried to stifle a giggle. The small sound made him smile through his embarrassment.

"Yes, go on laugh Guinevere, it's alright."

She chuckled lightly and Arthur realised he missed seeing her smile, the last time had been when he had woken from the incident with the questing beast. Then his grin widened, and he indicated to Merlin.

"Have you told him about the man he is inside yet?" He teased gleefully

She blushed furiously and diverted her gaze "No."

"Ahh…so it's just me then is it? I'm a lucky man."

"I told you sire, I didn't say that." He knew she was lying, and he knew she knew it was fruitless, she had been caught out.

"You know, lying to the Prince, I could put you in the stocks for that."

"But you won't." She met his gaze stubbornly.

"Give me one good reason."

She grinned wickedly "Because you need someone to help you clean the kitchens, and Merlin will tease you mercilessly if you tell him."

He gulped, how could he have failed to noticed how beautiful she was when she smiled?

"Maybe I'll take my chances…" he teased.

"Merlin is NOT leaving his bed. He is too ill." He had to smile; she would make an excellent nurse.

"Fine, come on then."

They left the room quickly.

"I'm sure Merlin would have been perfectly fine to help me…and you seemed pretty determined for him to stay asleep…maybe you just want to spend time with me Guinevere?" He shot her a charming grin which she returned with ease.

"Oh yes, I dream of ways we could be alone together." She teased. They both laughed.

Neither mentioned how true her last statement was.

**A/N: Possibly to be continued, if people want me to. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

They were still chuckling as they entered the kitchens, and Arthur revelled in the ease that lay between them. They turned the corner, and Guinevere stopped suddenly in the doorway. He looked down at her to see her staring, mouth slightly open in disbelief.

"How did you manage to make this much mess, on your own?!"

"Um…" He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed, and then decided the only way to go was to make a joke – besides, he liked it when she laughed. "What can I say… I'm the Prince, it's a talent."

She laughed lightly, starting forward, making her way to the epicentre of the mess. Suddenly she slipped backwards, thrown off balance by a puddle of water that was splattered all over the floor. Arthur, using his quick reflexes, managed to catch her swiftly before she hit the ground.

She clenched her eyes shut; trying to catch the breath the fall had taken from her, all her weight on the arms holding her less than a foot from the ground. Then she realised exactly who had saved her, and opened her eyes to find two dazzling blue eyes smiling down at her.

"You should be more careful Guinevere, otherwise it'll be me nursing you."

"Oh, I wouldn't expect you to nurse me sire, not that you'd be bad at it, I'm sure you'd be a great nurse, I just mean that you're the Prince and well… " He raised an eyebrow, trying to hold back an affectionate laugh. She stopped babbling.

"Thank you Sire."

"You're welcome Guinevere, and call me Arthur seeing as you're doing me a favour."

"Arthur." She muttered, the word felt foreign on her tongue, but somehow, right.

He smiled softly as she said his name, an action she mirrored. For a moment he gazed down into her eyes, blue meeting brown in a moment of sweet surrender, each one trying to read the confused affection in the others' eyes. Then they realised what position they were in and quickly righted themselves, Arthur keeping hold of her for a moment longer than necessary, making sure she didn't fall again.

They looked away from each other awkwardly, he coughed nervously, she blushed furiously. Then Arthur realised something.

"I didn't spill any water, I only spilt wine!" He exclaimed looking down at the puddle by their feet.

"Well then who did?"

"I don't believe this, someone has split water, and just left it here! Who do they expect to clean it up!?"

"Well, actually Arthur…" Gwen tried fruitlessly to indicate the mess he had made, hoping she wouldn't need to point out the obvious – that he had done exactly the same thing.

"I know I did the same, but I was going to clean it up!" She looked at him amused.

"Well, with your guidance of course."

She giggled, "Well it doesn't make much of a difference now anyway."

"Yes it does!" He interrupted earnestly, "You could've been killed, that water's a danger hazard!"

Gwen couldn't help but smile at his concern "I appreciate your concern, but as you can see, I'm fine – thanks to you." She noticed he seemed to straighten with pride at this statement, and it amused her greatly. "But if you are so worried about the water, perhaps you could take a cloth from over there…" she indicated the wooden table "And wipe it up while I start clearing up your mess."

"Of course, of course, yes. But for the record, I'd make a terrible nurse." Gwen sniggered cheerfully. Then he obediently collected the rag and began his task, doing exactly as she instructed, while she worked furiously on the other side of the kitchen. Arthur couldn't help but admire the speed and determination with which she worked, doing the work seemed second nature to her, and it seemed to him that she was thinking about something. He was curious as to what could be on her mind, and for a brief moment he wondered – could it be him? The way she had looked at him earlier, her earthy brown eyes shining… he grinned, and watched as she gently tucked a stray curl behind her ear, then he returned to his cleaning.

Gwen glanced over to the Prince where he was scrubbing the floor furiously, his face set in an almost comical expression of determination. She hadn't the heart to tell him he could stop – he seemed to be enjoying himself – every so often a bright grin would sweep across his features, making her stomach do back flips. She pondered over how a servant's work could cause him such joy.

It never occurred to her that it was not the work, but the servant, that made happiness course through his veins – even if he could not understand why. All he knew was that he wanted to impress her, so he made his square foot of floor shine like new.

When they had finished, they stood side by side, grinning proudly.

"I'd say it was a team effort." He said beaming. She chuckled.

"Indeed Arthur." She didn't bother to point out she'd done most of the work – perhaps because his spot of floor was almost blinding her, he had cleaned it so thoroughly.

He saw her glance at his area of floor, and noticed with pride that it shone much more brightly than the rest of the kitchen – he mistook her smile of amusement for one of pride – she must be impressed.

She yawned gracefully, covering her hand with her mouth. "Well, I'd best get back to Merlin," she muttered sleepily.

"Guinevere you look exhausted, why don't you go to bed? I'm sure that clotpole can manage without you for one night."

She frowned, "I promised Gaius I wouldn't leave him for more than an hour, in case he gets any worse."

"I thought you said he was fine." Arthur faced her fully, crossing his arms.

"He is now, and he's on the mend, but we've got to make sure he doesn't get any worse."

He looked unconvinced, and was sure Gwen was just worrying about nothing, as was her nature.

"Look, if you're that bothered just ask Gaius – he's the physician not me."

Her irritation surprised Arthur, and just proved to him how tired she was, it made him realise just how caring she was, giving up her rest to care for Merlin of all people.

"You'd make a great physician though… I remember when you nursed me…" He made to tease her, smiling boyishly but she just interrupted "Sire."

"OK, I'll stop – for now, and I told you – it's Arthur." He took in her bedraggled appearance, noting how even when weary, covered in dust, curls escaping from the loose bun at the back of her head, she could still appear attractive. He guessed he owed her a favour… and before he knew it the words were out of his mouth.

"Go home and sleep… that's an order."

"But Merlin…"

"I will nurse him." Her look of shock was so comical he had to laugh.

"You?" She said with disbelief.

"Yes, me. Ye have so little faith Guinevere."

"I don't mind sire…"

"Arthur." He interrupted tiresomely.

"Arthur, you really don't have to…"

"Guinevere! Stop talking, go home." He took her arm gently and led her towards the palace doors.

"Go."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, goodnight Guinevere."

"Goodnight Arthur."

She turned and began her way down the stairs, and it suddenly hit him what he had done. Now he had to stay up all night watching Merlin. Why? Because he been distracted by that damn curl which had fallen from behind her ear, that's why. He should just call her back and tell her he'd changed his mind.

"Guinevere!" He called out, she turned, flashing him a sweet but tired smile, and he couldn't do it.

"Sleep well." Her smile softened, and she gracefully inclined her head to him before continuing on her way.

Oh well, he could always terrify Merlin in the morning…


End file.
